Posted 12 hours ago

Who would you buy from?

No right or wrong answer to the following scenario but interested in other views.

You are after a particular item with the cheapest place to buy being retailer 1 which you would have to pay for in full in cash/card.

However, retailer 2 is only a few pounds more and you have a free gift voucher that would cover the whole cost.

Which retailer do you buy from?

For the sake of argument, other factors such as delivery time, warranty period etc are irrelevant.

I have had this scenario a few times and wondered what others would do and why.

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18 Comments

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11 h, 18 m ago
Depends whether or not i was likely to use retailer 2 for something else.
10 h, 2 m ago
Exactly this. Given there is a big difference (%) between the two then if there's a good chance I can use the voucher for something else eventually then I'm going to retailer 1 on this occasion. If the prices were closer eg £9 and £10 I'd probably use the voucher and retailer 2 though
11 h, 2 m ago
Depends on the retailers. I've paid more to go with a more reputable retailer or to avoid a retailer (eg Currys/Sports Direct)
11 h, 35 m ago
Depends on the purchase and the retailers. After sales is as important as the price to me. If either 1 or 2 was Currys though I'd definitely go to the other retailer
Author
11 h, 26 m ago
When talking large scale/expensive purchases the decision is easy but was thinking more of cheaper purchases - say sub-£10.

The question came to mind because I needed a storage box - retailer one was selling it for £5.50 whereas retailer 2 was selling the same box for £10 and I had free gift vouchers for retailer 2.

Even though buying from retailer 2 would have meant the purchase was completely free, I bought from retailer 1 as buying from retailer 2 still felt like I was being ripped off even though it wouldn't have cost me anything.
11 h, 26 m ago
Retailer 2
11 h, 21 m ago
If you have a gift voucher to spend then might as well use that and save your money
10 h, 53 m ago
If a company you have the gift card for goes into administration it will be worthless. So spend that.
9 h, 59 m ago
If retailer2 has across-the-board 5.5:10 higher price ratio on everything it shifts you might as well get rid of the vouchers now,
before retailer2 goes under due to pricing itself out of the market and rendering the vouchers worth jack.

( triggers some dull marketing math indicating that fewer sales are required on higher-margin products to obtain same return,
where the higher-price item is more desirable as a higher price item implies higher quality.
Obviously.
Not. )
9 h, 49 m ago
Retailer 2 unless your sure you will buy something with you gift card sooner or later.
8 h, 42 m ago
I’d have done the same as you and purchased from retailer one. Purchasing from retailer two effectively devalues the voucher to the price you’d pay from seller one. Unless as Andy pointed out above, the entire business model is based on over inflation and is at risk of going bust. However whenever I’ve been in this situation it’s been for retailers that regularly price compete, ie. an Amazon vs Argos purchase. Did recently buy two items totally £7 more expensive on Argos that I could’ve gotten cheaper elsewhere, but the Argos voucher was about to expire. I did get cashback on it that I wouldn’t have gotten from the other retailer, so I suppose that decreased the margins a tad. Interesting to read most people would go with retailer two.
3 h, 7 m ago
I usually try to consume stray gift cards first so that I don't lose the money on them.
1 h, 9 m ago
depends on overall price, the difference in price, and how often you may use retailer 2. if retailer 2 was amazon or somewhere i bought often, i'd keep the voucher. if retailer 2 was somewhere i rarely shop then i'd usually buy the first thing i was interested in, within reason, to use the card. if it's more than 20% difference you may be better cashing the voucher in to one of the places that buys them, if you aren't likely to use retailer 2, and then buy from where you want. your general finances etc also have a bearing on the choices. if money is tight you may not want to spend more money and use the voucher instead. if not then having unused vouchers lying around may not be a big deal and you prefer value to just using the vouchers quickly
21 m ago
Given that you’ve said retailer 2 is only a few pounds more I would definately use the gift card just to get rid and save your cash
2 m ago
What is the expiry date of the voucher? Most only have a 2 year life.
Use it or lose it (edited)